Oregon Raceway Park is a track of dreams for some Oregon racing enthusiasts

View full sizeRandy L. Rasmussen, The OregonianMount Hood overlooks Oregon Raceway Park in Grass Valley. GRASS VALLEY -- Bob Caspell drove around central Oregon for two years looking to buy land for a racetrack when he finally stepped foot on the wheat field atop a ridge two miles east of here.

There had been close calls. Interest, then political resistance in Madras. Bad timing on a former radar station in Condon. A couple of willing sellers suddenly raising their prices. Then after a year of driving up and down U.S. 97 in Sherman County, someone pointed him to the property on Blagg Lane with a view from Mount Jefferson to Mount Rainier.

Five years after buying 463 acres of dryland wheat, a group of Portland-area racing enthusiasts will stage their first Sports Car Club of America-certified race this weekend on what many of its users call one of the top road race tracks in the United States. It matters little to racers that the $3.2 million Oregon Raceway Park is literally in the middle of nowhere.

"This is very much a 'field of dreams' for us," says Tom Miller of Portland, a longtime racer, retired garbage man and board chairman of Pacific Motorsports Management, the investor group that built and operates the track. "We think if we build a great track they will come."

Track developers do not envision 100,000 people watching NASCAR in central Oregon. Their dream is to attract the hundreds of private racers and car club enthusiasts who each weekend challenge themselves on a handful of West Coast road race courses.

For Portland-area road racers used to driving nine hours to Willows, Calif., three hours to Seattle or six to Spokane, there has been little hesitance making the 130-mile trip to Grass Valley because the track delivers the challenges and thrills they seek.

"I've driven hundreds of race tracks across the U.S. and it's in my top two or three," says Scott Adare of Spokane, who trains drivers and trucks their custom cars to tracks around the country. "We don't view it as a remote location, but we ask: 'Does it make sense going there?' The answer is 'Yes'."

How it started

The track has its roots in the 1950s with the formation of two Portland-area car clubs: first the Cascade Sports Car Club and then Team Continental. Cascade was awarded territory in western Oregon, making Portland International Raceway its home track.

If Team Continental wanted to organize races it was left to rent little-used airports around the Northwest. Eventually that lead Caspell and other Team Continental members to dream of a track of their own.

In 2002 Caspell started prowling around central Oregon. Two years later he found the land -- second-tier wheat land with gullies and draws and lots of basalt rock that could be mined for the track's gravel base and asphalt.

There was skepticism at first. A race track seemed like another wild idea for one of Oregon's declining counties. But track investors kept talking and locals kept an open mind.

Caspell and investors formed Pacific Motorsports Management in 2003 and bought the land in 2005. Still a small, volunteer operation, it would be three years before the start of construction.

Pacific Motorsports asked the county to rezone the land for racing. They pointed to Thunderhill Raceway Park near Willows in northern California as a model of what they wanted to do. A county delegation visited Thunderhill and came away convinced that operation could be replicated in the wheat fields of central Oregon.

Thunderhill, started by a San Francisco-based car club 14 years ago seven miles west of Interstate 5, now boasts two tracks, permanent support facilities and is booked nearly every day of the year.

Oregon Raceway Park took shape as Caspell and others walked the land and planted stakes. They wanted it longer than two miles, they wanted lots of turns and elevation changes and they wanted other racers -- like karters and motorcyclists -- to like it as well.

To finance construction, the investor group expanded to 27 people, new investors putting in a minimum of $100,000. Grading started in June 2008 and by November the 2.3-mile road course was finished -- two inches of asphalt 40 feet wide laid over a 16-inch base of gravel. There are 14 turns, several off camber. Each lap has 400 feet of elevation change -- twice that of most road race tracks.

The track's signature area is a 330-yard stretch containing two tight turns, one of which is banked 14 degrees. The track is constructed so it can be run clockwise or counterclockwise, giving it twice the variety because every turn is different driven the opposite way.

"If you build a track so you can run it in both directions you really get two tracks for the price of one," says Jonathan Clark of Vancouver, director of business development.

Can it succeed?

Oregon Raceway Park quietly opened to car clubs, private drivers and other renters in November 2008, but was not certified by the Sports Car Club of America until August 2009 to hold official auto races. The track is also sanctioned by the International Karting Association and investors are working to get the track certified for motorcycles.

The track rents for $3,500 a day during the week and $6,000 per day Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Racers must retain fire and ambulance services, which can run $2,000 a day, and also pay for timers and 12 course marshals. This weekend, for example, Team Continental will charge each car $275 for a set of four races plus $125 for any additional races. Organizers expect 225 entries.

Clark said Oregon Raceway Park was rented 27 days its first year and so far has more than 40 days booked between May and October, enough to break even. Miller and Clark say growth in rental income will pay for the next round of improvements such as a permanent gasoline facility, upgrades to electrical and water systems, permanent restrooms and another paved paddock area.

Investors are betting there is enough business for a new track in the Northwest. Portland International Raceway in Portland is booked much of the year. PIR is a flat, fast course and Oregon Raceway Park's owners believe drivers will be drawn to their slower but more technical track. Owners have also priced their rents 10-20 percent lower than PIR.

Mark Wigginton, track manager of PIR, believes there is room for another road race track in the Northwest, but says the biggest question is whether a new track can operate profitably in a down economy that has hit the discretionary sport of racing very hard.

"Two years ago I had eight open days in the whole year," Wigginton says. "Now there are months with that many open days. The economy has been tough and they'll face the same issues."

PIR both benefits and is hurt by being the only track on the West Coast inside an urban area. It is near hotels, restaurants and other racing services but is subject to restrictions to mitigate noise. And because PIR is operated as a park by the city of Portland, it could theoretically be closed if it somehow became a problem.

Grass Valley, population 160, has two small cafes and a run-down RV park. The nearest motel is nine miles away in Moro and has 12 rooms, which fill quickly on race days, pushing visitors to facilities in Biggs, 27 miles to the north.

"They've done a tremendous job acquiring the land and getting it built," says Todd Butler of Yamhill, who sits on the SCCA's national board. "But I think they're going to have to make it a destination and it will take time for them to develop the amenities that we take for granted at PIR."

So far, racers say they are willing to put up with roughing it a bit if the track delivers the challenges and if they can see infrastructure improvements on the horizon.